Pinky Swears

Robyn grabbed her guitar case from under the table of her science class before taking a deep breath. Her footsteps picked up as she began her journey to her last class which only consisted of her and a few other students. It was her guitar class with the young volunteer teacher, Frank Iero. She didn’t have to go to this class but it was an hour of freedom from her little siblings. Robyn knocked on the door but then walked in anyways after she knew that Mr. Iero would let her in anyways.

“Hey, Mr. Iero.” she said, sitting down on the cheap two dollar blue chair that was always in the schools. The room was pretty bland and empty besides Mr. Iero sitting at his desk and a whiteboard with guitar chords written on it.

“Hey Robyn. How ya doin’?” he asked with a smile, his guitar already in his lap.

“I’m doing good,” she murmured, opening up her guitar as the remaining 9 students waltzed in, all looking the same with their perfect dirty blonde hair and green eyes. It was obvious that the oldest girl, Cameron, had the biggest thing for Frank but he was oblivious to her existence besides when he graded her work and made her test like everyone else.

Frank went over to the board, writing pop quiz on the top of it.

“Class, we’re having a pop quiz over the sheet music I gave you a few weeks ago. Amy, you’re first, everyone else, in the hallway to practice.“ Robyn took her guitar into the hallway and grabbed the music from her bag before sitting against the wall. She crossed her legs and let her acoustic rest on her thighs as she began playing the chords perfectly, smoothly. It was like a chorus of angels on her fingertips to spread the love in the messed up place many call high school.

Cameron stepped in front of Robyn but she continued playing, ignoring the girl standing in front of her. She cleared her throat but Robyn played on, speeding up a bit since she was nervous about what Michelle was going to do.

“Hey, bitch. Look at me when I talk to you.”

Robyn looked up at Cameron but she continued playing, rolling her eyes before looking at her fingers once more. Cameron groaned, slapping Robyn upside her head.

“Ow!” Robyn yelled. She stopped playing, glaring up at Cameron. “What the hell was that for?”

“Stay away from my Frankie and we’ll be fine.” Cameron crossed her arms across her chest and Robyn put her guitar down, standing up. Frank opened the door, letting the next student in and closing the door.

“He’s not your Frankie, Cameron. He’s a teacher and he wouldn’t go for you if you weren’t a student.” Robyn stated, a bit of confidence in her speech. Of course she wasn’t much of a talker but she was strong when she needed to be.

“I think he is. We fucked in the backseat of his Civic. I think you better not fuck with me.” Cameron gave her another blow to the back of the head before going with her group and playing the guitar. It was obvious she played bad on purpose so Frank could help her.

Robyn shook her head and continued strumming her guitar. Cameron stayed over in her location and played loudly. It was terrible and could probably kill the ears of everyone around her but she didn’t care at all. She just wanted her Frank but really, her Frank wasn’t even really her Frank. Frank opened the door and let in another student, giving Robyn a small wave as he closed the door again.

After more students came in and out, it finally reached Robyn’s turn. She was the last student and most teachers were already home. Frank opened the door one last time and smiled at her.

“Alright Robyn, you’re the last one.” Robyn picked up her guitar and sheet music, going inside the room with him. She sat down in the blue chair that was right in front of his. She placed her music on the music stand and began playing, listening to him humming the song behind her. Robyn’s finger slipped up and she stopped.

“Its alright, here, lemme help you.” he reached his arm over her shoulder and put his fingers on top of hers, sliding them over as he strummed up and down. Frank’s hand came up a bit too far which made Robyn yelp a bit. “What I do?” he asked, stopping abruptly to look at Robyn with an apologetic smile.

“Your hand, uh, hit my boob.” Robyn told him with an embarrassed laugh. It didn’t hurt her at all, just startled her that a guy actually got that close.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Frank said with a soft chuckle.

“Its okay.” Don’t be, she thought to herself.